InformationWeek

Cisco Upgrades Server

By Beth Davis

isco Systems Inc. this week will upgrade the 3600, its midrange remote-access server aimed at providing a multifunctional device that supports LANs and WANs. The upgrade includes high-density asynchronous cards for the 3600 series that let a single server support up to 96 users. Previously, a server could support only 24 users.

The announcement follows Cisco's unveiling earlier this month of AccessPath, a high-density access system that integrates LAN and WAN technologies in a single architecture.

"What we see is the need to have a sing le product solution set that integrates LAN, WAN, dial access, and voice,'' says Paul Lammerding, product-line manager for Cisco's access business unit. The goal: "You only have to buy one product, and you can merge multiple low-speed lines into a single high-speed line,'' Lammerding says.

David Meyer, director of the Advanced Network Technology Center at the University of Oregon in Eugene, uses Cisco's 3600 to aggregate different types of traffic back to the university's central site. "It's much easier to manage, and there's less overhead," he says. "We use it as sort of a Swiss army knife. It has a lot of diversity.''

Also included in the announcement were higher-density Ethernet cards and a hardware-assisted compression module.

Three of the six 3600 models are available now; the others will ship in July. Pricing ranges from $2,600 to $4,600. The compression module is $3,000.

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